Improvement in ruffling devices for sewing-machines



' L. C RlGGS.

Sewing Machine Ruffler and Gatherer.

Patented .Sept. 26,- 1865.

722a asses UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEONARD C. RIGGS, ()F FLORENCE, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT lN RUFFLING DEVICES FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 50,164, dated September26, 1865.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, LEONARD C. RIGGS, of Florence, in the county ofHampshire and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Rufiiers and Gatherers; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which willenable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, referencebeing had tofthe accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section ofan apparatus made according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a cross-sectionthereof.

Similarletters of referenceindicatelike parts.

The object of this invention is to produce an apparatus to be used upona sewing-machine for the purpose of making ruffles and gathers in cloth.

It consists in an upper and lower springplate which tend constantlytoward each other, and which come in contact with spur-wheels that aregeared together by means of an intermediary wheel. When two pieces ofcloth, one of which is to be gathered, are to be united by sewing, oneof them is placed between the lower spring-plate and its wheel, and theother between the upper plate and its wheel, and when the cloth is fedalong the upper gear is made to rotate by means of the pressure producedon the cloth by the upper spring-plate, and the lower gear by reason ofthe small intermediate gear is made to revolve at ahigher speed, andthereby ruffle and produce gathers in the cloth, which is held againstit by the lower spring.

1n the example of my invention here given, the apparatus is placed in orattached to a block,j, which may project from the face of the usualguide toward the place of the needle and pressure-foot. The front partof the block is provided with a recess to contain a system of gearedwheels, I) c h, the latter being a small pinion fast on the shaft of thegear I), and being driven from the gear 0. The gear 0 is the highest inposition in the block, projecting slightly above it, while the gear 1)projects a little way below it. The part of the block which contains thewheels is cut away on its upper and lower faces, and is therefore ofdiminished thickness as compared with the hinder portion. The said frontpart of the block is inclosed between two spring-plates, d and a,

which are hinged, respectively, on the upper and under sides of theblock at e 0, their leaves extending horizontally toward the end of theblocks, so as to inclose the wheels between them. The spring-plates areso applied that they press against the wheels, and so when cloth orother substances are interposed they will press the same against theperipheries of said wheels. The hinder ends of said springs extendtoward the back part of the block, and are forced apart by means of aspiral-spring,f, set in an opening made through the said block. By meansof said spring the leaves or front part of the spring-plates are keptconstantly closed upon the wheels. The pressure of the saidspring-plates is diminished and the action of the said springfcontrolled by means ofa screw, g, which passes through the back part ofthe upper plate, through the coils of the springf, and into a hub, it,formed on the inner end of the lower spring-plate, a, said hub beingreceived into the opening made in the block for the spring f, andforming the bed on which the bottom of the spring rests. When the screwis turned in the proper direction to draw the binder ends of the platestoward each other, it is evident that their leaves will be lifted ordrawn away from contact with the wheels. in that condition layers ofcloth or other material which may pass between them and the block willnot act on or be acted upon by the wheels; but when they are in thecondition seen in Fig. 1, the cloth which passes between the leaf d andthe wheel 0 will cause that wheel to be rotated step by step with thespeed of the feed of the machine, while the lower wheel, I), beingspeeded up by means of the pinion h, will move at a higher velocity thanthe wheel 0, and will consequently drive the layer of cloth or othermaterial which is between it and the spring a at a speed greater thanthat of the feed, and therefore will cause such cloth to be ruffled andgathered between the block and the pressure-foot. Such gathers will besecured by the successive stitches made by the needle.

It is evident that the measure or fineness of the gathers thus madedepends on the relations established between the wheels.

I disclaim the invention patented by Isaac W. Singer, March 18, 1856;and it will be observed that my device is distinct from the feedingwheel or wheels or other feeding de-= vices of a sewing-machine. Thedevice which I employ is not the feeding wheels or devices of asewing-machine, nor does it take the place of a feeding device to feedthe material which is being operated on, but on the contrary isindependent thereof, and is itself put in action and operated by themovement of the material.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. A ruffler andgathering device for use on sewing-machines which is distinct from andindependent of the feeding device and which

